The need for an effective soil strength improvement system capable of taking heavy loads and stabilizing poor soils has existed for many years. In certain applications, for example, during petroleum exploration, heavy equipment and materials need to be transported in remote areas that do not necessarily have roads or good supportable soil. Some solutions used in the past have used wood planks to support the loads in areas where the ground is of bad quality. The wood planks need to be stabilized and/or connected together, and it has been found that this is a time-intensive and laborious process. When the work activity is completed, it can be a time-intensive process to disassemble and remove any materials that are not biodegradable, such as nails or other metal stakes. Improved methods for quickly installing and removing these types of pavement systems are desirable.
The assignee, Reynolds Consumer Products, Inc. d/b/a Presto Products of Appleton, Wis., has produced a product sold under the tradename GEOBLOCK®. The GEOBLOCK® porous pavement system provides vehicular and pedestrian load support over grass areas while protecting the grass from the harmful effects of traffic. The unit is made from polyethylene, usually recycled polyethylene. Each unit includes intersecting walls defining a plurality of cells. These units are typically transported to the region where they will be installed. The units are assembled and connected together. Once installed, heavy equipment can be driven over them, and the soil or ground is not damaged and subject to unnecessary erosion or depletion. Improvements in assembly and disassembly are desirable.